FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional computer system 10. Computer system 10 typically includes the main computer system 12, a keyboard 14, a mouse 16, a display device or monitor 18, a diskette or floppy drive 20 and a compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD) drive 22. It is understood that computer system 10 is for illustrative purposes and includes numerous components not shown.
Large installation computer networks typically incorporate racks of server computers (servers) to provide services to the other computers within the networks. The functions performed by each of these servers vary depending on the network and the server's place within the particular network. For example, at least one server typically functions as “file server” for the network. A computer functioning as a file server will usually have significantly more data storage capacity than the other computers connected to the network. The networked computers utilize this data storage capacity to store files and databases. Software executed by the file server controls access to these files and databases.
Typically, each server within each rack would incorporate certain peripheral input/output (I/O) devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a display device, a floppy disk drive and a CD/DVD drive. However, these I/O devices are not used, except at certain critical installation points or for routine computer maintenance. Therefore, within the context of a large computer network environment, they are characterized as low-use devices.
When setting up these large installation computer networks it is desirable to minimize cost as well as the amount of space used. Consequently, to minimize the space used by the low-use devices, a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch is sometimes incorporated.
Through the use of a KVM switch, only one set of keyboard, mouse and display devices are utilized by the rack of servers. FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional KVM system 50 comprising a rack 52 populated with a number of server computers 54-68, switch 70, keyboard 14, mouse 16 and display device 18. The KVM switch 70 is cabled to each of the server computers 54-68 and to keyboard 14, mouse 16 and display device 18. If a computer operator or technician subsequently needs to access one of the server computers 54-68 in rack 52, KVM switch 70 is utilized to associate keyboard 14, mouse 16 and display device 18 with the appropriate server computer 54-68. The computer operator or technician is then able to use the keyboard 14, mouse 16, and display device 18 to interact with the appropriate server computer 54-68. However, due to the high cost of KVM switches and associated extensive cabling and the valuable rack space occupied, their utilization is less than desirable. Also note that the KVM system 50 does not address a solution for additional I/O such as the floppy drive 20 and CD/DVD drive 22 which is typically duplicated within each server 54-68 in rack 52.
Accordingly, what is needed is a low cost, space saving method and apparatus for providing I/O support for these and other types of systems. The present invention addresses such a need.